ot; 6packscaredy; a little scary…

[CA renter]

[quote=Rich Toscano][quote=6packscaredy]Diligence diet and effort. [/quote]

I’m out.[/quote]

🙂

[scaredyclassic]

Anything is better than nothing. But I don’t generally do more than one hour a day. The question is how hard do you go in that hour? You can bop around and not push it, or you can try really try to get stronger every time. The latter is harder.

It’s ok not to go hard. But in reality I wanted more results but couldn’t quite admit it to myself.

[scaredyclassic]

Ultimately it seems abs are mostly about getting all the fat off on top of them

[bearishgurl]

[quote=6packscaredy]Ultimately it seems abs are mostly about getting all the fat off on top of them[/quote]

We-e-e-ell . . . scaredy, it’s a little more than that, I think. There are a more than a few skinny people around who don’t have a six pack or anything close to one. Some look like a bag of bones and even have baggy knees :=0

It takes a lot of WORK to get rock-hard abs good enough to “show off!”

[scaredyclassic]

i suppose. but all that work is necessary and yet not sufficient if there’s even some fat over them.

there really is no point at all to a 6 pack.

All Is Vanity
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
3 What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?
4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
8 All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

[scaredyclassic]

normally i just carry the 90 lbs up and down gym stairs a few times. but last night i walked with my kids downhill to the mailbox with two 45 lb plates. Gosh. it’s tiring. i had to stop and pant by the roadside while they watched. the oldest was home from sdsu.

this was decent entertainment for them.

strange mental image to have in one’s brain. walking to get the mail with your dad, down a hill, while he struggles to carry two heavy weights, his forearms sinewy with pointlessess and vanity. i remember my dad…he was a strange man….his arms were throbbing so hard he couldn’t get the mail key into the solt and we had to help him….

it was much further than i usually go witht ha quantity of weight. smetimes i stroll with a 35 lb kettlebell, which gets tiring, but not the same.

[scaredyclassic]

we are considering getting some rings and training to do an Iron Cross…

[scaredyclassic]

middle age guide to buffness someday.

1. NO ALCOHOL. at best, it’s not helping, at worst it’s dramatically slowing you down. these are “empty calories” that make you slowerand less likely to move. alcohol also makes it much more likely you will eat something stupid….once you get your body under control, and beautiful, I will allow you to have 1-2 shots of alcohol per day witha non-caloric mixer (seltzer) if you stillw ant it. but that may be a few years out…

2. EVERY BITE COUNTS. this is very depressing, like realizing you have to live within your salary, or the day you find out yu’re not going to be a professional athlete after all. at 135 lbs, my goal weght, im only permitted about 1400 odd calories, not counting calories for exercise. that’s not much. plus, one needs a lot of protein. when you really get down to it, every bite has to count toward a nutritional requirement, or you’re gonna get fat.

3. HARD WORK. you can go an wave some light weights around like a baton. you can do some bicep curls and call it a day. but a bicep is not a body. a bicep is justa tiny portion of a body. you need to work the whole enchilada and work it hard. this involves big movements, like deadlifts, like squats, like actual physical labor type work, or as close as you can come to it with weights. and lots of it.

so don’t drink , you might miss the opportunity to get in another half hour of pullups and dips with your kid that evening.

4. DILIGENCE. the body changes very slowly. but ti will change, for better or worse. you need to push it up the hill….and make your workout more challenging each time, if you can. which ismuch easier said than done, cause most people just do the same thing over and over. it is very hard to improve, to do more, but, it must be done, or you’re not actually going anywhere. not sure that’s even enough to maintain, given the general way of things to deteriorate.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=6packscaredy]middle age guide to buffness someday

[-snip-]

. . . the body changes very slowly. but ti will change, for better or worse. you need to push it up the hill….and make your workout more challenging each time, if you can. which ismuch easier said than done, cause most people just do the same thing over and over. it is very hard to improve, to do more, but, it must be done, or you’re not actually going anywhere. not sure that’s even enough to maintain, given the general way of things to deteriorate.[/quote]

All very good advice, scaredy. But I’m wondering about the 1-2 shots per day after your body finally gets in tip-top shape. If those 1-2 “shots” were not 100-proof spirits but instead equaled 8 oz wine or 12 oz beer, maybe… With seltzer and ice, 8 oz of wine is actually 3-4 glasses 🙂

Believe me when I tell you that I know how to stretch out a box of wine, folks :=]

scaredy, it is exactly the maintenance part that I think is the hardest. I was an amateur athlete from age 9-19 (at age 18-19, I no longer competed but primarily coached and judged). But after I left HS and went on to college, my fitness level was hard to maintain, due to my study/work schedule. By age 20, my leg muscles had significantly atrophied and I found myself having to spot reduce, which I did successfully in four months time by doing hundreds of reps per day on lightweight pulleys at a local gym. But I was young then.

For me, I found it is better not to develop significant muscle to begin with if I don’t know if I will be able to devote the time to maintain it. I would rather just get rid of as much fat as I can and develop a slight definition, if possible. I’ve seen young 20-something ladies work out at the gym with 45-lb kettleballs and they are very fit and buff, for sure. But I have to ask myself how they’re going to maintain those arms and legs 30 years from now after having sat in their worker-bee cubicle for decades while having 2-4 kids :=0

I don’t think achieving a 13.5% body-fat composition is possible for an adult female … at least not for one who isn’t a professional bodybuilder. I think 18.5% body fat is an admirable goal for Suzy Q. 6pack 🙂

I think some guys also just want to feel good and maintain a “good enough” level of fitness for their daily lives. And that’s okay. Not everyone can spend 30+ hrs per week at the gym.

You are fortunate that you have so much equipment at home, scaredy, and your kids are also interested in bodybuilding. It is nice to have company and also someone to help you with the bench press and “supervise” sometimes.

Most kids today are spread pretty thin and have zero interest in that kind of stuff.

[zk]

[quote=bearishgurl]

I don’t think achieving a 13.5% body-fat composition is possible for an adult female … [/quote]

And it wouldn’t look good, either.

http://livelifeactive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/bfpercentage.jpg

Personally, I think 25-30% looks good on a woman. Even 35% looks better than 15% to me.

Although as a woman ages, maybe 30-35% is too much.

[scaredyclassic]

If people have an hour a day for gv, they can spare that hour and be very very fit. If desired.

[scaredyclassic]

I don’t bench press.

I meant tv not gv.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=zk][quote=bearishgurl]

I don’t think achieving a 13.5% body-fat composition is possible for an adult female … [/quote]

And it wouldn’t look good, either.

http://livelifeactive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/bfpercentage.jpg

Personally, I think 25-30% looks good on a woman. Even 35% looks better than 15% to me.

Although as a woman ages, maybe 30-35% is too much.[/quote]

zk, I saw your pics and they don’t take into account that weight is distributed differently on different women. For some it goes to the hips and thighs (pear shaped) and for others it goes to the waist, midriff, chest and arms (apple shaped). And the way the weight sits on the thighs makes a huge difference in aesthetics, IMHO. Of course, some of that is hereditary.

Correct me if I’m wrong, zk, but I thought ~25% body fat was considered “overweight” and ~30% was considered “obese” for the avg adult female. Even losing 5% of body fat can lower one’s blood pressure significantly.

[FlyerInHi]

Congrats! Post your daily diet. I want to see what you’re eating.

Humans are meant to be thin.

I just finished tiling my condo. About 1200sf. Ripped out carpet and tiled the whole thing. It’s backbreaking work running back and forth cutting the tiles and laying them. At first you get back pain but afterwards it feels good. I even built a walk in shower.

I could hire someone, but I do a better job. And it’s exercise. Eventually, I want to build a whole house.

Working all day on the farm or construcrion would be ideal to keep fit. But you need the option to do it at your own pace so you don’t suffer occupational hazards.

I’ve been the same weight since college years. Don’t drink cuz I don’t really enjoy it.

Addiction to food and booze was an evolutionary advantage when everything was scarce. But now, people who don’t have cravings are better off.

[scaredyclassic]

here is a fascinating bit of commercial history; the special k pinch an inch commercial from 1979:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9lTRfh0gcU

i remember this being a big joke in junior high–can you pinch more than an inch? and grabbing each others sides.

it’s hilarious! normal has moved wayyyy over.

[Author]

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